•More importantly, she enjoys hunting for wild mushrooms and the lost pages of Laura Palmer’s diary in the Pacific Northwest woods. In her parallel-universe life she is a professional jazz-singer/go-go dancer/award-winning physicist who owns a green tea plantation run exclusively by former child-stars.

•Besides creative writing, Mary works as a freelance writer, an editor for two literary journals, social media specialist, aromatherapist, vegan bath and body maker, jeweler, and creates enticing product descriptions and vignettes for various companies such as WildFeather.

WRITING LIFE: Mary is a winner of The Virginia Middleton Award for poetry and has poems published in Silk Road (1 poem), december Magazine (2 poems), and Prairie Schooner (5 poems), Phantom Drift (2 poems) and her poem “Chamomile” was in the Spring 2016 issue of Rust+Moth.

•She enjoys being associate editor for the “dark and offbeat” flash fiction ‘zine The Molotov Cocktail and co-judge for its quarterly contests. You can follow Molotov Cocktail on Instagram and Twitter via @MolotovLitZine.

•Mary is also a poetry co-editor and social media editor for the fabulist literary journal Phantom Drift. You can follow Phantom Drift on Instagram and Twitter via @Phantom_Drift

•Mary was the Arts and Entertainment Editor for LACC’s The Collegiate newspaper in Los Angeles, CA where she did theatre reviews/interviews and countless art features. While in Los Angeles, she also devoted many years to music journalism for No-fi Magazine. Mary interviewed numerous musicians such as Silversun Pickups and Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon) as well as authors like Clint Catalyst. •Mary also was once the Editor in Chief for The Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group‘s bimonthly newsletter.

•While studying at the University of Southern California for her BA in English/Creative Writing, she took workshops/classes with Mark Irwin, Cecilia Woloch, and David St. John for poetry; and Aimee Bender and T.C. Boyle for advanced fiction.

PERFUMER/SOAP-SLINGER/CRAFT AND JEWELRY LIFE: Mary was creator of the perfume company Angel Wished Designs, which was featured in such high profile fashion magazines as Elle, In Style, Lucky, and Self.

•She started a new company in 2014 called Le Noir Bleu which sells many natural bath and body items, perfume blends, natural essential oils, handmade soaps, balms, lotions, bath soaks, origami art, and jewelry on Etsy or http://www.lenoirbleu.com. Le Noir Bleu can be found at several boutiques and various art events like Portland Night Market.

ACTING LIFE: Originally from the beautiful bay area of Northern California (with some years spent in Oregon and Chicago as well), Mary did a long and sometimes grueling tour-of-duty as an actress in Los Angeles, CA from 1997-2008. There she not only attended USC, but graduated from the intensive two-year method acting school in Santa Monica, CA called The Joanne Baron D.W. Brown Studio.

•Post graduation, she supported herself as a full-time actress by constantly working as a background performer or featured extra on numerous television shows, music videos, and movies. A few notables are A.I. and Pearl Harbor and “Six Feet Under” and “Sex and the City.”

•Mary also occasionally worked at The Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax in Hollywood, where she worked in the box office and sold tickets to see rare and classic silent films to cool people like Aimee Mann, Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Stoltz, Weird Al Yankovic, Brian Bell (of the band Weezer), etc.

•In the end, Mary missed San Francisco and did not like the weather in L.A. She eventually returned to the Pacific North West to occasionally do community theatre (three characters in “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” the mother in “The Bad Seed,” etc).

•However, most of the time, she is happiest being a reclusive writer living in a cozy nook of Portland with her life partner, Josh (they first met in 2011 at grad school but their meet-cute didn’t develop beyond friendship until 2013). Josh is a brilliant writer as well as a talented editor and journalist.

WORST JOB EVER: As a young teenager, Mary once sold chopped-up fish parts (including the heads) at a seal aquarium in Depoe Bay, Oregon. She was fourteen, and had already been a strict vegetarian for two years. Is it no wonder, after this job, she has remained an avid vegetarian ever since (and has been vegan about 1/3 of that time, so far)?